Jake Hill took a last-gasp victory in the final race of the Oulton Park British Touring Car Championship round to move into the series lead.
Hill had chiselled his way through the reversed-grid order until he found himself on the rear bumper of the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of polesitter Mikey Doble, and finally pulled off an audacious manoeuvre with half a lap remaining.
From fourth on the grid, Hill and his rear-wheel-drive West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport surprisingly failed to make up any positions at the start, but he did manage to pull off a move on Dan Cammish to get past the Alliance Racing Ford Focus ST on the opening lap.
Out front, Doble was doing a superb job of leading a BTCC race for the first time and was gapping veteran team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith, who was keeping the chasing hordes at bay.
Hill’s favoured place for moves was around the outside of the hairpin, but could not quite make anything happen until the 10th lap of 15, when he used a blast of hybrid to complete the move on Taylor-Smith under brakes for the hairpin.
Instantly Hill zoned in on Doble, but going into the final laps the BMW had run out of hybrid while the Vauxhall still had two left.
But Doble then used his remaining hybrid and with two laps to go both of the leading duo were out of the power boost.
Hill went to the outside of the hairpin, and the two continued side by side down the hill to the chicane, where the BMW went around the outside of the first apex and claimed the inside of the second.
He had just three corners to negotiate for his fifth win of the season, followed by the two Vauxhalls.
The Laser Tools-liveried BMW pilot reckoned the move on Taylor-Smith happened just in the nick of time to go after Doble.
“I could sense he was starting to struggle a bit,” he said. “I could stay with Aron even without using any hybrid.
“Then I got a punch of it down to the hairpin, and I was really surprised he let me have it.
“I then had a fantastic race with Mikey. I really enjoyed it – as much as I feel sorry for him for depriving him of his first win, I’ve got a championship to win.”
Tom Ingram was fourth in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N after a mid-race move on Cammish at Old Hall, with Cammish and the sister Ford of Dan Rowbottom next.
An oil return pipe on the turbo came adrift on Ingram’s Hyundai, meaning smoke was emanating it – and it even caught fire when he returned to the pitlane after the race.
Ash Sutton had just moved onto the tail of his team-mates when damage to his front-right wheel arch sent him to the pits when it cut into the tyre. He rejoined, but gained only one point for fastest lap.
Adam Morgan (WSR BMW) got past Josh Cook (Speedworks Toyota) on the final lap for seventh, while Chris Smiley put his Restart Racing Cupra in the points again in ninth ahead of Rob Huff’s Toyota.
Colin Turkington hung on well in seventh place in his WSR BMW for three laps, only to be sent wide in a collision with Smiley at the chicane, and then be tipped into a spin in a clash with Aiden Moffat’s Toyota at Lodge.
BTCC Oulton Park - Race three results
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| Cla | Driver | # | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | km/h | Retirement | Points | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport |
BMW 330e M Sport | 15 |
21'42.189 |
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| 2 |
M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing
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Vauxhall Astra | 15 |
0.749 |
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| 3 |  A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing |
Vauxhall Astra | 15 |
2.410 |
1.661 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors |
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 15 |
2.856 |
0.446 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 15 |
3.714 |
0.858 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 15 |
4.150 |
0.436 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | A. Morgan Team BMW |
BMW 330e M Sport | 15 |
6.758 |
2.608 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 |
7.474 |
0.716 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | C. Smiley Restart Racing |
Cupra León | 15 |
9.744 |
2.270 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 |
12.474 |
2.730 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 |
R. Pearson Team Bristol Street Motors
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Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 15 |
14.991 |
2.517 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 |
15.065 |
0.074 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 |
D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard
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Cupra León | 15 |
20.717 |
5.652 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 |
20.902 |
0.185 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | C. Turkington Team BMW |
BMW 330e M Sport | 15 |
30.738 |
9.836 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 |
S. Sumpton Restart Racing
|
Cupra León | 15 |
39.908 |
9.170 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 |
N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors
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Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 15 |
1'03.918 |
24.010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 15 |
1'17.217 |
13.299 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| dnf | S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 10 |
5 laps |
Retirement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| dnf | T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors |
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 0 |
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Retirement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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